E.W. Scripps Co Digital Support Operations

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Latest Update & Release Notes - November 6, 2018

Modified on: Tue, 6 Nov, 2018 at 11:08 AM

NEW RELEASE: Storm Shield App for iOS Version 4.10

BUG FIXES:

• We fixed a bug on iPad where the map didn't properly display across the entire screen when iPad was in Landscape View. As a result of this fix, we've expanded the Location Card view (at the bottom of the map screen) to be more helpful and show more hours when iPad is in Landscape view.

• We fixed another bug where the Hurricane Tracks detail screen could not be closed if it displayed a lot of hurricane track data points.

• We fixed a small bug where the app would crash when attempting to Share a map image to the device's Camera Roll.

• We fixed a small bug that caused the app's Notifications permission box to not display correctly when the user wanted to enable Weather Alerts in the app, but the iOS device itself had notifications disabled (in iOS Settings).

• Additional under-the-hood maintenance items are included in this release.

• This was a popular user request! In Settings, tap Manage Locations, then swipe left on a location name to reveal this new option. Note: Storm Shield supports notifications for up to 25 total locations (for example: 1 Current Location plus 24 Saved Locations).

VOICE PLAYBACK OF AN ALERT'S FULL DETAIL TEXT

• In the app, when a user taps a location's active alert to read its full text, users can tap a new Play/Pause button at the top of the Alert Detail to have Siri read the complete alert text. This feature is also helpful with Accessibility needs for our visually impaired users.

• A new Advanced setting lets you set the number of looping imagery frames to display for weather layers (such as radar) if you are on a slow cellular connection. Using less frames will help looping layers like radar display faster, but you won't see as much imagery.

ACCESSIBILITY FIXES:

• For our visually-impaired users: when inside the app and you tap an active alert to read its full detail, you can now tap the new Play/Pause button at the top of the Alert Detail screen. This gives Voice Over users more control over the voice read-back of an active alert's full detail text.

• When the iOS Accessibility Voice Over ability was on, and there were multiple locations saved in Storm Shield, and those locations had multiple active alerts, a bug caused one location in the app to get its number of alerts confused with the number of active alerts for other locations in the app. This bug has now been squashed.

• When the iOS Accessibility Voice Over ability was on, and Local Media Provider content appeared in the Location Card Detail screen, a bug caused the 'Live Stream' and 'Full Story' buttons to not be tappable. This bug has now been squashed.

OTHER BUG FIXES:

• We squashed an annoying bug that was causing severe weather notifications to stop working for some users, while these notifications continued to work fine for the majority of users. If your device was affected by this, updating your app and opening this version 4.9 should correct that issue.

If, after installing and opening this version 4.9 update, you feel you're still not getting weather alert notifications, please submit a Support ticket from within your Storm Shield App, which provides us with additional diagnostic data, and we'll look into it.

• A bug was found in Storm Shield iOS version 4.8 (which was released on July 9, 2018), which caused in-app purchase subscriptions that expired to not actually become disabled correctly in the app for some users. The net result was, some users continued to get access to the premium features for free after the in-app purchase subscription expired. This bug has been corrected in Storm Shield iOS version 4.9.

• A bug was found in Storm Shield, which caused the purchase of an individual in-app subscription feature to inadvertently also unlock the other in-app subscription purchase feature. As an example: if you purchased the individual 'Lightning' feature, you inadvertently also got the separate 'Future Radar' feature for free. This bug has been corrected in Storm Shield iOS version 4.9.

• Additional bug fixes and performance improvements are included in this release.

• Widget: Storm Shield App now has a widget for the Today screen on your iOS device! This was a common user request, and we are excited this is now part of the app! Get quick access to active weather alerts, current conditions and a 5-hour forecast for the first location you have in your Storm Shield App. Be sure to enable your widget on your device’s Today screen. Storm Shield’s widget can also appear on your lock screen for super-quick access if you enabled it.

• 3D Touch: The app’s icon is now enabled with 3D Touch, an Apple technology that senses how deeply you press the display in iPhone 6S and later iPhone models. By 3D touching the app icon on your iPhone, you can get quick access to active weather alerts, current conditions and a 5-hour forecast for the first location you have in your Storm Shield App, right from the home screen of your iPhone.

• A new Advanced feature allows you to select your preference to show on the Location Card at the bottom of the map either the 5-hour forecast Conditions or the 5-hour forecast Temperatures. This new preference also takes effect on Storm Shield’s new Widget. To set your preference, on the Map screen tap Settings (the gear icon), then Advanced, and under ‘Location Cards’ select either ‘Show Hourly Conditions’ or ‘Show Hourly Temperatures’.

• Tapping a location pin on the map shows a bubble with a new info button that opens the Location Details screen. (You can still tap the ‘More’ button on the Location Card at the bottom of the screen to access the same location information.)

BUG FIXES:

• This includes a patch for the bug fix in version 4.5 that was supposed to clear up duplicate saved locations in the app. Version 4.5 cleared up duplicate current locations, but turns out it did not handle all cases for duplicate saved locations. This version 4.7 should now resolve that for saved locations too. If, after installing version 4.7, your device is still affected by this, please submit a Support ticket from within your Storm Shield App, which provides us with additional diagnostic data, and we will be happy to look into it.

• Additional Accessibility and Voice Over improvements for our visually-impaired users are included in this release. (Fixed Voice Over for when the Hi/Lo temps (or other data) are not available.)

• Fixed a bug that caused an app crash if you had to delete and then quickly re-install the app (the app could crash if any app settings at the iOS system level were not cleared immediately when the app was deleted, due to some system level app settings that could remain cached for a few extra minutes).

• HOT FIX to ver4.5: Fixes an app crash on startup that only affected older 32-bit devices, such as iPhone 5. This bug got introduced in the version 4.5 release related to the new feature that lets you change the order of your saved locations. It turns out older 32-bit devices, such as iPhone 5, didn’t like the new code. This patch should fix that so the app no longer crashes on startup for older 32-bit devices.

• This also fixes a bug that caused the app to crash if you have zero locations saved in the app.

• Change the order of your saved locations! This was a common user request, and we’re excited this is now part of the app! In Settings, tap Manage Locations, then tap ‘Edit’ to move existing locations up or down the list (tap ‘Done’ to save the new list order). Note: Current Location (if you allowed it) will always be set to position #1.

• The orange temperature displayed on the Location Card at the bottom of the map screen now shows the ‘current conditions temperature’ instead of the ‘forecasted temperature for the current hour.’ We made this change because some users were confused as to why the orange temperature on the Location Card (i.e. the ‘forecasted temperature for the current hour’) didn’t match the orange temperature on the Location Details screen (i.e. ‘current conditions temperature’).

• Accessibility and Voice Over improvements for our visually-impaired users are included in this release.

• Select the text of an active alert’s full details. Simply long-press on the text to display the iOS selection tool.

• When you receive a severe weather alert push notification for one of your locations, you can now swipe open that notification and the app will take you to that location on Storm Shield’s map so you can see its active weather.

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed a bug that caused current locations to be duplicated in the app for some users. If your device was affected by this, updating and running this version 4.5 should correct that issue automatically. If it does not, please submit a Support ticket from within your Storm Shield App, which provides us with additional diagnostic data, and we’ll look into it.

• Tapping the red alert triangle on the Location Details screen (this red triangle appears if your location has an active alert), now takes you to the list of active alerts for that location.

• When using Metric units in Storm Shield’s Advanced settings, the Location Details screen now correctly displays “mb” for Millibars instead of “in” for Inches on the barometric pressure reading.

WHAT’S UP NEXT:• We’re working on adding some new feature preferences, as well as continued performance improvements to further polish the app. We are also working to resolve a bug that is causing saved locations to be duplicated in the app for some users.

• New Weather Alerts improvements: Thanks to your feedback from the initial version 4 release, Storm Shield App now provides over 160 weather alert types (instead of 45) for which you can choose to receive a push notification. This is even more alert types than the original Storm Shield App version 3's push notifications (which had 110). To choose which alert types you want to enable or disable, on the Map screen tap Settings (the gear icon), then Manage Weather Alerts.

As always, when you receive a push notification from Storm Shield App, you will hear an audio notification that says: “Beep! Beep! Beep! The National Weather Service has issued a ‘Name of Alert’.”

• New Lightning Alerts improvement: In Settings, you can now enable and disable Lightning push notifications with an on/off switch.

• New Lightning Alerts improvement: When you have Lightning Alerts enabled, a new slider lets you adjust the notification sensitivity between 1 and 10 miles. Adjust this by 1-mile increments to be notified of lightning strikes within X miles.

• Apple Watch fix: We squashed a bug which caused expired weather alerts to not disappear from Storm Shield’s Apple Watch app. Opening Storm Shield App on your iPhone will now update the Apple Watch app for any weather alerts that have since expired.

• Map fix: When adding a new location, the map now centers itself on the new location you just added to match the Location Card display.

• Additional bug fixes and performance improvements are included in this release to resolve an annyoying app crash bug that affected some users.

• WHAT’S UP NEXT: Our next two updates will address some fixes for occasional display inconsistencies between the Location Card and number of active alerts on a given location, improvements to let you change the order of your locations on the the Manage Locations screen, Accessibility improvements for Voice Over, and continued performance improvements.

Storm-based or polygon alerts help reduce false alarms from county-based alerts by alerting you to severe weather based on your exact location within a county. Why is that important? Because county-based alerts can give you false alarms, warning you even if your location in the county is not within the threatened area.

Benefits include:

• Get NOAA alerts just like a NOAA weather radio via voice and push notification no matter where you are in the United States.

• Share severe weather alerts with your family and friends to make sure they stay safe.

• Beautifully sharp radar map as your home screen so you can immediately see what's going on at your current and saved locations.

• View current conditions, hourly and daily forecasts.

• Save additional locations to make sure friends and family at home, work, or out of state stay safe.

• Watch live video streams when available (usually during local coverage of severe weather in most cities listed below).